With several paintball sport arenas providing international quality equipment mushrooming in the metros and tier II cities, many families are enthusiastically taking to this recreational sport – K.P. Malini

With state governments easing Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, many families are cautiously starting to engage in outdoor sports and adventure activities.

One outdoor activity which is fast gaining popularity is paintballing, a sport where teams of players pretend to be in a warzone, shooting each other with small paintballs of different colours from an air weapon called paintball marker. With several paintball sport arenas providing international quality equipment mushrooming in the metros and tier II cities, many families are enthusiastically taking to this recreational sport.

According to Wikipedia, paintballing is “a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules (paintballs) that break on impact. Paintballs are usually shot using a low-energy air weapon called paintball marker that is powered by compressed air (nitrogen) or carbon dioxide.” The paintballs are non-toxic, water soluble and bio-degradable.

“Paintballing has emerged as a popular recreational sport in India. In families it’s a fun sport for children with corporates also playing it for team building purposes,” says Swapneel Shetty, CEO, PaintBall X, Bangalore (estb. 2011) who adds that the garden city hosts over 30 paintball arenas.

Even though this game is played mainly as a recreational sport, it is also emerging as a competitive team game with several foreign countries organising professional tournaments. In India too, competitive paintball tournaments are being held in several cities including Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Shetty is a member of Team X which played at the National X Ball League 2018 — Asia held in Malaysia and was placed #5 in the tournament.

According to Shetty, the game can be played indoors or outdoors in fields of varying size called concepts, a mix of natural terrain and man-made obstacles. The most popular gameplay is to capture the enemy’s flag followed by elimination, defending or attacking a particular point or area, or capturing objects of interest hidden in the concept area, or just plain shooting at sight within a specified time frame. Games played outdoors in natural terrain can last one or two days.

Paintballing was created by Americans, Charles Gaines and Bill Gurnsey, in 1981. Together with 12 friends, they played the first paintball game using industrial paintball guns on a 100 acre field. In India, paintball dates back to 2005 when TPCI (The Paintball Co) signed up with PALS (Paintball Asia League Series), which governs the sport in the Asian circuit, to launch the country’s first commercial paintball park on the outskirts of the national capital at Damdama Lake in Gurgaon, Haryana.

Over time, this recreational game has become more sophisticated with people grouping into teams. New concepts and styles of play are being continuously developed. The basic game is that players must attain a pre-decided goal without being shot and marked with a paintball. Eliminated players are expected to leave the playing field. The different types of games are Woodsball or Bushball (play in natural terrain using trees as cover), Scenario (large scale woodsball games), Speedball (open field with minimum natural obstacles or artificial turf with flat wooden obstacles or inflatable fabric bunkers which can be easily moved to reconfigure concepts) and MilSim i.e, Military Simulation (a military reality experience).

The main equipment used during play are paintball mask, paintball marker gun, body armor (optional), barrel socks, overalls (dungarees), paint grenades, compressed air or Co2 canister, paintball and hopper. These are usually provided by the paintball centre/organiser. Chest guards, gloves, knee and elbow guards can also be used for additional safety. It’s important for all players to wear safety gear which is provided by paintball sport centres.

“Paintballing is 100 percent safe when played under supervision. Every player, new or experienced, is taken through a mandatory safety briefing before the start of games. Non[1]adherence to rules leads to disqualification of players. No player, immaterial of the age, is allowed to play without minimum two referees in our concepts. For child players, we have special marshals who supervise every game. Low velocity paintball markers are made specially for children aged nine-14 years. We have been running paintball operations with zero injury rate since 2011,” says Shetty.

Paintball basics

• Wear long sleeve shirts/T-shirts and full-length trousers.
• Always wear face masks and goggles on the field and in neutral zones.
• Shooting outside of the field into another person’s property or at any spectator is prohibited.
• Players should not indulge in verbal abuse or make physical contact with each other.
• To avoid injuries, don’t shoot if distance between players is less than 15 ft.
• Dead zone is designated for eliminated players and the neutral zone for spectators. No shooting is allowed in these areas.
• Playing should commence only after both teams call out that they are ready and the referee announces ‘Game On.’
• If you are unsure if you are hit, ask for paint checks.
• Eliminated players should raise their hands over their heads and walk to neutral zone. They cannot fire as they are walking off the field

Paintball centres

Many paintball centres also organise birthday parties for children. Some recommendations:

• PaintBall X

#132, Mylesandra Dinne, Begur Koppa Main Road Bangalore 560083.

Mob: 9845651183

Email: swapneel@paintballx.in

Website: www.paintballxindia.com

• Rock shot Paintball Sports Company

S11/C3, Pandav Nagar Ext, New Delhi 110092

Mob: 91 9818215877

E-mail: rockshotpaintball@gmail.com

Website: www.rockshotpaintball.com  

• Urban Adventure

Amar Nagar, G.G.S. Marg, Behind Nirmal Lifestyle Mulund (West) Mumbai 400082

Mob: 9833699687/8976724647

Email: support@urbanadventure.in

Website: www.urbanadventure.in

• PaintBall Centre

Laser Tag G Sector 15/15 2nd Floor Kakani Towers, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai 600034 Near Airtel Showroom and Opposite Louis Phillipe

Mob: 9152175178

Website: www.gsector.in

Also read: Bizarre sports played around the world